Notified for iPhone - Jailbreak App Review

Notified for iPhone is a notification app available via Cydia. It allows users to have more of an Android-style notification system. I'd been on the hunt for a better notification system for quite a while. This is one area I feel Apple has sorely neglected, and probably one of my biggest peeves. Apps like LockInfo and Intelliscreen have stepped in to pick up some of the slack, but in my opinion, Notified does a cleaner job of presenting notifications.

When you first install Notified, you'll see an icon to configure it. You can also create a gesture via Activator whether its a quick swipe up from the bottom of your screen or whatever you choose. This will allow you to access Notified from anywhere. Notified will simply drop down from the top of your screen and show all of your notifications.

Notified requires almost no user setup unless you want to route notifications to open a certain app when selected. There's also a free plug-in for Notified that adds a status bar along the bottom of your phone when you receive a notification. The only downside to this plug-in is that is runs from the same API pop-up alerts do (from what I can tell). If you disable pop-up alerts, the plug-in won't work. To me, this is somewhat counterproductive. I don't need 2 notifications at the same time, for the same thing. I'd like to be able to disable the pop-up alerts in notification settings and just use the unobtrusive notification system that Notified has developed. Hopefully this will come in an update to the plug-in. (Update: Notified also has another newer plug-in that runs across the top bar that's unobtrusive).

Compared to other jailbreak notification options, the UI looks much cleaner than that of Intelliscreen and LockInfo (and this is always, of course, a matter of personal preference). Priced at $2.99, it's also cheaper than either of its competitors. It does not however show any information on the lockscreen. This didn't bother me though. A quick swipe on your lock screen (with whatever gesture you chose in Activator), allows you to see your notifications on the lockscreen as well.

Pros

Incredibly quick

Doesn't eat memory or run unnecessary processes that decrease battery life

Nice interface

Monitors battery life as well

Cons

Plug-in doesn't really serve a purpose since you can't disable pop-up alerts (newer bar solves this problem but folks that like the look of the bottom notified bar better may have an issue

Notification plug-in doesn't have settings to make alerts disappear after a specific amount of time, they just sit there

I got this a week or so ago and doesn't really do anything. I was expecting an app that prevented the Apple push windows from showing and then showing something else. This app just makes notifications show in a separate window. Or am I missing something here?

@Wayne - The main benefit of Notified is that you can keep track of all the notifications that you receive in a log. Without this every new notification you receive will hide the old one and all you will have to go on are the badges.
Notified also gives you the option of the look of the notification itself, the regular Apple notification, a Palm style one at the bottom or a notification bar style one at the top.
With Notified Pro you can activate the log at any time, anywhere with a custom gesture (I use swipe down from the top). So for instance you can quickly see what notifications you have recently received without leaving the lockscreen. Couple this with '20-second lockscreen' to extend the dim time and it's a huge improvement on Apple's system.

I bought pop up blocker and use this with notified to block the standard push notifications. This means i don't have to disable push on each app. I then use grip notifications for notified pro to give me palm pre like notifications.

I have owned the original iPhone, iphone 3G and now have an iPhone 4. I have never jailbroken but was incredibly dissapointed that the notification system wasnt upgraded, it's probably the only reason I feel the need to jailbreak...
Apple really are taking far too long updating it and they will have to blow me away with a great notification system next year or I will very reluctantly have to move to another OS

Why move to another OS when the Jailbreak community readily offers alternatives and fixes to the gaps that Apple leaves in the OS? It's not perfect but at least you can fix the problems, you can't say that about other devices.

Turning off the alerts in the Notifications section of the Settings app turns it off, whereas Notified just blocks the Apple alert and displays it in a cleaner fashion. Go to manage alerts in Notified settings or install Popup Blocker to hide native alerts with any Notified plugin.
2 of my good friends worked extremely hard on this tweak for a long time so please support them and purchase Notified instead of installing a cracked version.

Great review and I absolutely love this app plus its plugin. Apple's notification is so awful and this app definitely improves the usability of notification system. I already paid $2.99 to support this software; it is worth the price.

Great review Allyson. It was exactly what I was looking for on the net, and definitely food for thought about jailbreaking when the 4.1 code comes out. Does anyone know if this app effects the battery at all ?
It's interesting that 4.2 is coming out 6 months after the 4.0 was released with extra features. Could this be an attempt at a by-yearly update from apple to compete with the fast releases of android?

Once again we have another notification system that neglects the basic (and missing from iOS) feature of repetitive audible notifications. What good are any of these notifications if you have to pick up the phone and press/swipe something just to see if you have anything?
What happens if you receive a critical notification (email, SMS, phone call) and you're not using your iPhone. So before we go and add all this fancy notification consolidation, how about adding some basic value?

Stur, have you checked out lockinfo? Every notification shows up and you can even read emails without unlocking the screen. The infoshade function is a bit smoother/polished than notified as well. I use notified to block native popups + statusbar notifications and lockinfo for everything else.

@Suri - Maybe a month late, but the 'Log Notifications' in Notified for the Mail app causes the app to crash (supposedly only for Gmail accs, but it may be the Mail app in general)
Turn off 'Log Notifications' within Notified for the Mail app and you should be aces.